Website Hosting Options for Research Labs and Groups

Here are the options EE supports internally. There are, of course, a multitude of other options
available elsewhere... albeit usually for a fee.

Space on the EE Web Server

With this first option, we create a folder for you on the web server under the research section
of the EE website. This option only allows for html pages - no server-side scripting (so no php,
no cms installations - only html, javascript, and css are allowed). Permissions to the folder can
be controlled by setting up a group, so any number of people can be allowed to update the pages.
This is what the majority of EE labs currently use for their lab websites.

These websites can have a custom EE web address, if desired
(e.g. http://mylabsite.ee.washington.edu).

EE Wordpress Server

The other primary EE option is to use our Wordpress server.
We have several labs and groups taking advantage of this.

A number of the most popular WordPress themes are already installed, and you are welcome to
use any of them on your blog / site. If there is a theme you want but we do not provide, let us know
— if the theme doesn't require special permissions, has a decent security track record, and is
currently maintained, we are happy to accommodate you. Please be aware that not all WordPress themes
meet this standard, though...

Because of security and maintenance issues, we have instituted a moratorium on installing additional
plugins. Running a full-service WordPress server would require a dedicated full-time admin, and we
simply don't have the resources for that. This policy was adopted to serve what we see as the best
interests of the average user, but we understand it may not work for everyone.

We are happy to help with technical issues, but we do not have a Wordpress designer on staff with EE
Computing. You can certainly ask us questions! But be aware that users will generally be expected to
figure out how to get their WordPress site design set up on their own.

There are also currently space restrictions placed on EE's Wordpress server. If you need to
include/link very large files on your Wordpress site, contact
to discuss ways to deal with that.

Websites hosted on EE's Wordpress server also have the option of a custom EE web address
(e.g. http://mylabsite.ee.washington.edu).

EE Department Wiki

If you're just looking for an informal space to post and share information, we do maintain
a MediaWiki-based EE Wiki.
Note that access requires an EE account, so anything posted there is not accessible to the public.

To get going with the EE Wiki, just log in using your EE account - no setup is required.

Alternatives

If the options listed above don't appeal to you, UW does offer web space on the server
depts.washington.edu where you can self-install
static html webpages or even a CMS
such as Drupal or Joomla. For more information, read the documentation on that website or
contact UW-IT's help desk. Please note that EE Computing cannot
offer any support for websites hosted outside of EE's server infrastructure.

If you want to use Wordpress, but don't want to live with the restrictions we place on our self-hosted
server, there are many
commercial WordPress hosts available who are happy to help!